The Other Birthright
by ryuuko-oh2d
Summary: pro-Akane / Akane-centric. Akane learns about her legacy from her mother's side of the family. hideous slow to update
1. inspired by a forum joke

Typical disclaimers: all Ranma characters are owned by the glorious empire that is Rumiko Takahashi. In fact.... the idea for this story is also not mine entirely..... the ninja bend came from a forum posting that started with a joke about the Nin Tendous. O_o

The poor writing, on the other hand, is all mine. -_-

from the get go... this is something of a pro-Akane fic. Please don't read it if you don't like her and you plan to just flame me. I'm sure there are myriad other ways to better spend your time. Thanks much.

[thoughts] b/c I'm a piss poor writer :o(

so. on with the show.

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The Other Birthright

It had started innocuously enough. It had been a typical day at the Tendou household. Ranma and Akane had bickered, Kasumi had serenely served breakfast, and Nabiki had made snide remarks. However, a minor detail in the expected response of the fathers threw every thing off, JUST enough.

"The houses will never be joined!" Soun sobbed.

"Oh my dishonorable son!" Genma chimed in.

"Ranma will never take over the dojo at this rate!" Soun wailed as his turn came around again.

"Oh the shame of our ungrateful children!" Genma continued. In fact, the two men commiserated loudly for another good half an hour or so. But really, it was the third in the series that changed things.

It had barely registered as something new in the long list of grievances that the fathers aired. In fact, Akane was concentrating mostly on throwing Ranma into the koi pond at the time. She did, nonetheless, hear it. And in fact, so did her older sisters.

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"Akane-chan," Nabiki called. It was after school of the same day and Ranma and Akane had finally returned home after the usual disruptions and distractions. "We need to talk."

Akane popped in to the living room, curious over her older sister's unusual tone of voice.

"Ah, Ranma-kun!" Kasumi said, stopping Ranma as he trailed after his fiancee. "Our father's have gone out for the night and I was thinking of having a sisters-only night. If it isn't too much to ask.... " She trailed off demurely and held out a single man (1 man = approx $100) note.

"Oh, I... gee, thanks Kasumi..." Ranma accepted the bill awkwardly and glanced hesitantly at Akane. She had a bemused expression on her face, but stayed silent.

"Wonderful!" Kasumi cheered sweetly. "Thank you so much for being so understanding, Ranma-kun. Hopefully, that will be enough to keep you busy for a few hours. I just thought it would be so nice for just us girls to have a little time alone for a change. If you could give us maybe five hours or so.... " She smiled again and took Ranma's school bag from him as she gently guided him back out the door.

The three Tendou sisters watched him from the entrance until he had disappeared around the corner. Kasumi had waved softly. Nabiki had stared rather impassively. And Akane had stood there quietly, looking at the ground as she tried to read the strange feelings that she was getting from her sisters. All three waited a moment more once Ranma was out of sight.

"Well done, Kasumi," Nabiki finally said, breaking the silence with a chuckle. "I had thought that you'd at least let him use the bathroom before kicking him out."

"Nabiki!" Akane cried, rather scandalized, "he might still be able to hear you!"

"No...." Kasumi answered musingly, "he's out of range by now. I can feel it."

Startled, Akane looked at her eldest sister and blinked slowly. She turned toward Nabiki to see how she was taking Kasumi's strange behavior. But Nabiki had her head cocked slightly to side and her eyes stared unfocused off into the distance. [what on earth....?]

"Yeah," Nabiki said abruptly, coming back to herself. "We're alone. I'm going to set some things up. I'll join you in a bit. Get started without me." With that, she turned and went back into the house.

"Nabiki....? Kasumi...?" Akane was a bit lost.

"Ah well.... that's that, I suppose." Kasumi said. There was a slightly strange note to her voice, regret perhaps. "Well, you heard her, Akane. Let's get started. Go upstairs and change into a formal kimono please. Call me if you need help. Otherwise, I'll meet you in the tatami room in front of mother's shrine." Then, like her sister before her, Kasumi also went back into the house, leaving Akane alone and confused as ever.

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Having finished with the formalities of honoring their mother, the three kimono clad Tendou sisters were sitting in seiza, ritually drinking tea. The highly ceremonial atmosphere kept the youngest Tendou silent, despite her burning curiosity. Sipping the last of her tea, Akane finally placed the bowl back down and exchanged bows with Nabiki. She sat motionless as Nabiki carried the bowl back to Kasumi, who then gracefully finished the ceremony and left the room with a bow. She glanced then at Nabiki, who rose effortlessly and beckoned Akane to follow her into the other room. With a sigh, Akane painly lurched to her feet out of seiza as pins and needles shot through her sleeping legs.

"So, Akane," Kasumi began as Akane hobbled awkwardly into the room. "I'm sure you must be curious about what's going on. Please, have a seat." She gestured to the kitchen chair opposite herself at the table. Nabiki stood silently behind Kasumi and a bit to the side. Akane took in their positions and then sank into the indicated chair wordlessly. The feeling of formality still hung heavy in the air and Akane reigned in her emotions, unsure of herself.

"Do you recall," Kasumi said after a long moment, "mother's former occupation?" Akane shook her head, confused about the direction of the conversation.

"Mother was originally a kunoichi," Nabiki supplied softly, "She came from a clan of shinobi and was of the highest rank. Shortly after she retired from active duty to marry father and raise us, she made a pact with the clan. While we would live normal lives outside of the village, we--her daughters--would also return and be raised as kunoichi."

Akane searched her sisters' faces. She opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Her right hand stole to the back of her neck to rub at it awkwardly as Akane dropped her gaze to the table before her. [I don't understand....]

"You have always taken after father," Kasumi picked up. "You are emotional, guileless, and persistent. You were mother's one exception. Although you were also meant to be trained by the clan, you were the heir to father's branch of Anything Goes, so an allowance was made. However, father's intentions were made clear today." Akane looked up with a jerk.

"When the schools are joined, there will again be only one master. And it will not be you." Nabiki finished. "The clan demands your return."

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I'll get back to this when I can. It may take me a while. :o\ Feel free to spin off from it.


	2. some puns and boring exposition

standard disclaimers apply. I don't own anything. :o\

my apologies as well.... I am a slow and rather uninspired writer. Also this is just a lot of exposition.... so it's a bit boring. And also I don't have anyone proofing my stuff....sorry for the spelling/grammar errors. Thanks if you reviewed or messaged me with some encouragement. :o)

* * *

It was really a bit like something out of a movie, in Akane's opinion anyway. She still sat in her formal kimono at the kitchen table. But now, her sisters stood a bit behind her, flanking her. Across from her, sat Fusa Moritomo, best known around the neighborhood as "the little old lady who waters the sidewalk." Standing behind and a little to the side of Fusa was, to Akane's great surprise, Dr. Tofu Ono. The five figures faced off silently. Despite the overwhelming urge to twitch, demand answers, and generally break the tension, Akane sat motionless, gaze demurely on the table top before her. Fusa studied her. Dr. Tofu studied her. Akane could even feel the stares of her sisters on her back. She focused on breathing even more quietly and relaxing her hand....which kept clenching into a fist in her lap.

"Hah!" Fusa suddenly cried, jolting everyone from their thoughts. "Really, Nabiki, what on earth did you do to her? I rather expected that she'd be yelling and breaking things at this point. This is hardly the feisty girl I always see storming off to school." Akane blushed hotly at the description, but held her silence. "When you called to inform me of the situation, I prepared myself for the worst."

"Actually, ma'am," Nabiki drawled with a hint of amusement, "this isn't my doing. I would have to admit that subduing Akane's temper is rather beyond me. It would be a bit like cracking a certain doctor's limitless cool..." She flashed a cheeky smile at the two across from her and was rewarded with a slight smirk from Fusa and a certain doctor's red cheeks. She grinned a little more genuinely though, when she noticed Akane's shoulders loosen a little.

"Oho! Kasumi then was it?" Fusa crowed with a laugh. "We do say that no one says 'No' to Kasumi." Kasumi inclined her head gracefully with a slight smile. "And may I ask exactly how you achieved this....?"

"Maaa...." Kasumi began modestly, "really, it isn't like that at all.... Akane is perfectly capable of controlling her temper on her own." Her lips quirked as Akane discretely sat up a little straighter. "Everyone knows that Akane's forte is not....exactly in the graceful and traditional arts." Akane started to slump slightly, then stiffened and returned to her ramrod straight posture. "However, given an appropriately severe atmosphere, she almost always overcomes her ....unlady-like behavior...and performs flawlessly." Kasumi beamed happily at Fusa and Tofu.

"Interesting.....your subtlety perhaps surpasses even that of your mother...." Fusa stroked her chin musingly as she eyed Kasumi. "I always thought that Nabiki was the devious one...."

"It's what we want people to think." Kasumi and Nabiki replied together. They stopped to exchange startled glances and laughed. Kasumi continued, "We're both a little manipulative, but Nabiki is far better at obtaining information...."

"In any case," Nabiki picked up, as she noticed Akane beginning to fidget, "let's get to the heart of the matter, shall we?"

"Hmm... yes... I suppose we ought to. In fact, given the impressive amount of restraint you showed tonight, Akane, let's head off your burning questions right now." Fusa watched Akane as she slowly looked up from where her eyes had been glued to the table top.

Akane met Fusa's eyes, but stayed silent. As Kasumi has rightly pointed out, Akane had a weird relationship with traditional femininity. When the stakes were sufficiently elevated, she effectively froze up and the sheer terror of committing a horrible blunder kept her from any word or action until she was absolutely sure of it. To be honest, Akane was still riding the fear of disrespecting the tea and her thoughts were too jumbled for her to even begin.

Fusa slowly raised an eyebrow as she tried to read Akane's impassive face. She looked then to Kasumi and Nabiki, but both girls had also schooled their features as they waited for Fusa's lead. She sighed then. Where to begin....?

"Well then, Akane," Fusa said finally, "assuming that your sisters have maintained their vow, you likely knew little about your mother's heritage until tonight. I will give you an abbreviated version of what I think you should know. But first.... did you know.... that our clan refers to your mother as the legendary 'Nin Tendo'?" Nabiki face palmed herself loudly. Kasumi blinked. And Akane's eyes widened. "Actually, we also briefly considered an alliance with the Kunou family. We were thinking of something along the lines of 'Kunou ichi, the number one kunoichi.' Get it?" This time, Tofu covered his face in embarrassment, Kasumi face faulted, and Nabiki choked. Akane, in turn, raised both eyebrows.

"Yes, well..." Fusa continued awkwardly--a little embarrassed at the less than ideal reception of what she privately considered to be a fabulous pun, "it's really something of a point of pride in the village. Um, right. So your mother was one of our most skilled kunoichi. As you may or may not know, our way of life has continued to evolve along with society. The world has different needs, but there is still much that we can do from the shadows." With nods towards Tofu, Nabiki, and Kasumi in turn, she pointed out some examples. "Medical knowledge, espionage, manipulation, many of our traditional strengths are still in great demand in various sectors of society. While we were never really about violence or physical force, bodily intimidation is even less effective today than it was centuries ago--not that we don't still have a place for it. In any event, our particular clan takes care of its own first and foremost. We have been watching over you, all three of you, ever since you were born. In honor of your mother's request, you, Akane, were allowed to remain your father's heir. However, in light of his confirmed revelation that you are not the intended heir of the future school, it is time to take you back into the fold." She sat back, considering her next words.

Akane's mind was whirling. Her mother had been a kunoichi. Many of the people closest to her were apparently ALSO ninja. While she'd slowly become aware of her father's intentions, she certainly hadn't considered becoming a shinobi as one of them. Her sisters were also a bit more devious than she'd previously thought. So many things to think about....and so many more questions raised. She looked up to stare hopefully into Fusa's face. So far, she was getting a lot of information by just sitting there, could she get more....?

Kasumi, on the other hand, was bored. While the development of Akane becoming part of the clan was new, most of the management of that project was unlikely to fall to her. As she'd been raised with most of this background history long ago, she was fast losing interest. What to do to move things along.....? She glanced across the table and caught Tofu's eye. Ah yes....that was always entertaining. Kasumi began to smile slowly.

--------------------------------------------

"Where to begin....?" Nabiki wondered aloud. After an amusing, yet ultimately unhelpful distraction thanks to Kasumi's boredom, Fusa had reprimanded the three shinobi and stalked out with a reminder to the girls to be ready for the weekend. Kasumi had run off giggling with the incapacitated Doctor in tow. Nabiki's lips quirked briefly at the memory of Dr. Tofu's abrupt and nervous laughter cutting Fusa's explanation off.

All eyes had turned to him and noted that his glasses had fogged up with the unfortunate Kasumi Effect. Fusa's eyes narrowed and she had directed a scathing glare at Kasumi, furious at being interrupted. However, before she could deliver her intended censure, Dr. Tofu scooped her up and began to twirl her about the room. Fusa had screeched with outrage as Dr. Tofu chattered on inanely about the coincidence of meeting Kasumi in the Tendou home. Kasumi had clasped her hands in front herself and demurely looked at the ground. As Dr. Tofu spun with Fusa to face her once again, Kasumi slowly gazed up sweetly at him from beneath her bangs. Things had escalated at that point and Fusa forcefully put an end to the poor Doctor's ....er....evening.

Akane had simply sat there with her mouth hanging open--all understanding of her life and present situation currently blown out the window. Nabiki enjoyed the short lived spectacle and mentally thanked her sister for speeding up the night's activities. And Kasumi remorsefully bowed her head and apologized to Fusa, although her eyes twinkled rather mischievously. All of which led them up to now--where Nabiki was left to bring Akane up to speed as they cleaned up the remains of the evening's...fun.

* * *

er..... hopefully I'll get a bit more action into this later. I am not sure. As always, please read my other stuff if you enjoyed this. :o) And if you want to take this and spin it off, please feel free and let me know too so I can direct people your way.

Until I next get around to writing.... have fun. ^_^


	3. that night and the next day

man.... these things are hard.... I don't know how other ppl pound out the chapters and all. :o\ Thanks very kindly to those few of you who reviewed. I.... kind of have a lot planned out, but I just tend to be busy reading other ppls stuff and never really write. writing is hard. ;_; so sorry I am really really slow. ok...now then.... here's another piece. It's a little bit longer even. But...I don't know if it's good. :o(

* * *

"Everything is training."

Since she had finished helping Nabiki clean and repair the living room following Fusa and Tofu's eventful visit, Akane had been repeating that line to herself non-stop. Nabiki had briefly outlined the Mizumura Clan's position in the modern day ninja world. Nerima's close proximity to the centers of power in Japan gave the Mizumura a profitable opportunity to benefit from the corporate and political needs of information trade and protection as well as the always lucrative bodyguard industry. Ninja specializing in medicine, such as Dr. Tofu Ono, were frequently on call for those who couldn't afford to visit ordinary hospitals and clinics--for example, the Yakuza, the mistresses of influential politicians and directors, and the elite of society, to say the least. Couriers, like Kasumi, were invisible to the movers and shakers of Japan and could easily slip important documents to the right people while performing things like in-house tea ceremony classes for rich wives or making home-made bentos for the corporate Ojou-sama's or Princesses to give to their boyfriends. Nabiki, of course, represented the best of the espionage industry, tapping into vast networks of people and technology to learn what she wanted. While Kasumi was far better at reading people, Nabiki could predict how they would act and react and when the two worked together--as they often did--they earned a high success rate of achieving what they wanted. Overall, the Mizumura were simply concerned with maintaining their place in the world and providing for themselves. None of the members were in power for themselves and the Mizumura were fairly low profile--they were a close knit community, loyal to each other. The lifetime of observation of Akane by her two older sisters dictated that she was to become a bodyguard. Her training was to begin immediately. And, as Nabiki pointed out, since Akane had a lot of catching up to do, everything would be training.

It had begun that very night as they were cleaning with Nabiki taxing Akane's memory by demanding an exact replication of what the room had looked like before the disaster of the 'Kasumi effect' on Dr. Tofu. As they picked up wreckage and wiped up spilled tea, Nabiki had fired off question after question.

"We'll start off easy," Nabiki said. "Where were you sitting?"

"In the chair at the table." Akane answered, somewhat puzzled by the simplicity of the question. Nabiki had raised an eyebrow at the answer and pointed to the smashed kindling in the corner.

"Which of these wrecked chairs was it? And how do you know? Where along the table were you, centered or closer to one of the edges? How far was your chair from the table?" Akane's eyes had bugged out then. Picking up another chunk of chair and taking it to the pile to buy time, she'd studied the bits of furniture and thought hard.

"It was the chair with the slightly short left back leg..." she said slowly. Akane's eyes were unfocused as she tried to recall the moment only an hour or so ago. She absently began to pick up tiny shards of a nearby shattered teacup. "Kasumi had put the best chair out for Mrs. Moritomo. Mine was the next best one, but I remember that I was so nervous and frustrated and irritated because it was harder to sit properly in that chair because it was unbalanced. My chair was centered...well...mostly. There's a funny whorl in the wood of the table about a third of the way to the left of my side.... so I think I was pretty centered. I...my lap...I was looking down at my lap when I was trying to keep my head lowered. I could see... not my knees...but the part of my kimono where the flower and the scroll pattern, you know? So I was maybe 20 centimeters or so from the table..."

A slight smile played on Nabiki's lips as she listened to her little sister's hesitant recollection. She held up a ceramic vase that had survived and passed it to Akane.

"While you're still in the grip of that... where does this vase go?"

Akane turned slowly, not seeing the room, but seeing it as it had been. She took a couple of steps toward the kitchen, then paused and slowly turned again. Her lips were moving soundlessly and her eyes were distant. Her outstretched hand swept across the room before her and she silently named things to herself. Nabiki surreptitiously adjusted the dining room table behind Akane's back and then went back to wiping tea stains off the wall.

"The shelf," Akane finally said, placing the vase on an imaginary shelf that was now part of the broken furniture pile. "There was a shelf about this high. It's where the stripe runs across Kasumi's apron. There were.... flowers in it? No...a branch with... buds? Not flowers. Something.... the color of...." She traced her hand over the unseen flowers. "Like that lavender jade pendant you sometimes wear."

Akane turned back around to place the vase on the dining room table. She stopped mid-motion with a strange look on her face. Nabiki watched silently as Akane stared at the table. Akane slowly put the vase down and touched a particular wave in the wood grain. She looked at the light overhead and then again at the table. "This.... wasn't moved in all the commotion," she muttered to herself. She nudged it back to its original position and touched the mark on the table again. Nabiki smiled to herself and resumed the questions.

"What were the shape of Tofu's glasses? How was his hair tied? What color was he wearing? And what did he react to that Kasumi did? What was the first sign that Kasumi was messing with him?"

Akane sighed, it was going to be a long night.

-----

And of course, it had continued the next day.

Breakfast had begun with a VERY unpleasant slice of ginger mixed in with her vegetables. It blended in with the slices of bamboo shoots and Akane had abruptly spit it out with an awkward screech. Everyone, inevitably, turned to stare at her in shock and she locked eyes with an amused Kasumi. Mouth hanging open silently, Akane could only nod weakly in agreement when Nabiki demurely suggested that Akane PAY MORE ATTENTION to what she was doing and BE CAREFUL not to bite her tongue again.

As everyone resumed eating, reassured that nothing was out of the ordinary, Akane took an eye watering mouthful of wasabi laced rice. With both her sisters' eyes trained on her, Akane slowly swallowed the burning mouthful and took an unfortunately incautiously big swig from her tea cup....which had dried peppers rather than tea leaves floating in it. Eyes streaming, Akane excused herself from the table, careful not to draw the attention of the three males. Luckily, with her father sequestered behind his paper and Ranma and Genma bickering over breakfast, she made a fairly safe escape.

On her way out the door, Nabiki palmed a note to Akane with a low warning, "No one sees." Kasumi had called a cheery goodbye with a repeated "Be careful today, Akane-chan!" that she hadn't understood until she slipped on her shoes and felt a wet squelch at the toe of her sock. Akane's stomach had lurched then and she returned Kasumi's smile with a sickly one of her own. Hungry and more than a little stressed, she had then raced out the door behind Ranma with a mental reminder "Everything is training." Sadly, that particular phrase slipped Akane's mind until she came within sight of Mrs. Moritomo's house. As the water splashed her face, Akane's weary and horrified mind registered a wink from Clan matriarch.

"Hey! You took one for me today," Ranma teased.

"Oh my!" Fusa had exclaimed with Kasumi-like sweetness, "How terrible for me to LOSE CONTROL and HIT YOU like that." She then clasped her hands together in distressed apology and locked eyes with Akane. "I wouldn't want to hit anyone else today," Fusa continued once she had Akane's attention. Akane forced herself to unclench her fist and smiled a teeth baring grin.

"Yes of course, let's not hit anyone today," she replied as her eye ticked uncontrollably. Fusa nodded once to Akane and then waved the pair off.

Ranma shot Akane a weird look as they ran. He wasn't sure exactly why she seemed so enraged, but her fury seemed to be limited to sprinting a lot faster and mumbling something under her breath. While he was glad to not be hit when he finally realized that he might have upset her--which was about two seconds after opening his stupid mouth--Ranma did find it a bit strange.

He also found it a little weird that Shampoo's daily bike to the face was met with a bucket of water for the two of them rather than a mallet for the one of him. While it wasn't the most unusual way that Akane had of dealing with Shampoo glomping him, he thought that Akane generally was kind enough to avoid it since it left him a screaming mess--and it also wasn't as satisfying as a good hard whack. But before Ranma could think about it much more, the terror of having a cat nearby overtook him and he ran off wailing.

He found it even stranger when, upon arriving at school, Akane ran straight past Kunou with only a "Ranma, he's your's today, I have to do something." tossed over her shoulder. Thankfully, the distraction of a quick fight with Kunou again got Akane's strange behavior off his mind.

Slipping into the locker room to change her socks and clean her shoes, Akane let out an exasperated huff. She gave the wall a quick hard jab and was rewarded with a satisfying crack as the concrete shattered and left a small crater in the wall and some dust on the floor. "Yuck....jelly" Kasumi had apparently filled the toe of her right shoe with a spoonful of strawberry jelly. Akane sat down and rubbed her temples hard with her hand. Clearly, Fusa didn't want her hitting anyone today, but it seemed everyone was out to provoke her. She gave the wall another good tap and then searched her pocket for something to clean her shoes with and touched the note from Nabiki. She read it quickly and had to re-read the last line a number of times to calm herself down.

'Akane,  
I expect objective and accurate lists of the strengths and weaknesses of the following people by the end of today: Shampoo, Ukyou, Ranma, Ryouga, Mousse, Uncle Saotome, Daddy, Happosai, Cologne, me, Kasumi, Kodachi, Kunou, Dr. Tofu, and you. I don't want petty comments and jealous remarks. Shampoo and Ukyou are better fighters than you and everyone knows it. I want objective. You'll be a crap bodyguard if you can't accurately assess threats. Don't fail this family by letting your emotions control you. Everything is training.'

Akane spent the rest of the day writing and rewriting her lists as she alternately studied the other fighters and fought down furious intentions over some of her memories. As she couldn't hit anyone, the day was especially frustrating. She'd resorted to all kinds of methods like pulling Hinako-sensei in front of herself to block when Happosai had made a morning visit to the class, drawing a passing Azusa's attention to the little bells on Shampoo's hair buns when she showed up on the way home from school, all kinds of things really. It was a rather eventful day.

One particularly centering moment came at lunch when she was glaring daggers at Ranma and Ukyou and unsuspectingly popped a blob of oil covered rice into her mouth. Swallowing hard against the overpowering urge to spit it out and throw a tantrum, Akane covered her eyes and considered--very briefly, but considered nevertheless--killing Kasumi. "I guess Ranma and Ukyou are the least of my concerns," she ground out quietly to herself before opening her eyes to darkly study her bento.

The rice--as she'd already discovered--was covered with Castor oil, the beef smelled like it had been seasoned with ....was that... mint and yuzu?, and the burnt vegetables.... good goddess...was that cilantro and molasses? While she herself tended to be extremely absent-minded, distracted, and otherwise disastrous when cooking, it wasn't as if Akane DIDN'T pay any attention in Home Ec. For crying out loud, cooking a delicious meal was one of her great dreams in life! And even if she couldn't personally apply what she knew, Akane could at least identify the horror of what was before her. It was like... a simplified version of her own cooking.... Kasumi, that...that.... jerk.

Akane couldn't quite bring herself to label her eldest sister as anything worse than a jerk, even though she'd recently learned that Kasumi was...not quite what she seemed. But old habits die hard. With a sigh for her completely derailed emotions and train of thought, Akane started on the list of her own weaknesses that Kasumi's horrid bento had brought to mind. Ruefully, she realized it was going to be a looooooong list.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at the lists Akane handed over. They were pretty thorough assessments of the fighting abilities of everyone she'd assigned. She had to even admit that they seemed fair. Kasumi's little bento idea was quite a bit more spot on than she'd thought it would be. Granted Nabiki HAD put the odds in Kasumi's favor and all by drawing up that list of things that motivated her and calculating how she'd react to things.... but still, maybe Akane was going to be a faster study than expected.

"Well....?" Akane asked. Combined with the little bits of insight and perspective-skewing-personal-history that she'd been "given" recently, along with the "training" mantra she'd been chanting to herself, Akane thought that she'd really been able to make some personal progress. I mean, who would have thought that she'd be realistically acknowledging the strengths of that spoiled, bratty Shampoo, right? And complimentary things about that arrogant prick she was engaged to.... unbelievable, she thought with a self-deprecating smile.

"Actually, Akane-chaaaaaaaan," Nabiki drawled out, "this is only about their fighting abilities. You haven't listed any of the things like Shampoo's sex appeal or Ukyou's cooking; not to mention your own terrible temper and inability to swim...." She trailed off with a hint of a smile as Akane's battle aura flared to life.

"I....see...." she gritted out. Her voice was strained as she clenched her fists, tight enough to draw blood. "I'll redo them then..."

"Nah....you can do them tomorrow. Tonight, we've got something else to work on." Nabiki laughed to herself as Akane's anger vanished with the spike in her curiosity. Her little sister was SOOOOOOOO predictable.

"What are we doing now....?" While she was curious, Akane was also a little wary. So far, her "training" had been weird and quirky and more than a little trying. She'd been so hungry by dinner that she'd taken a page from the Saotome's and stolen food from her sisters' plates when she noticed that her own dishes were once again.... "enhanced". Honestly, she could understand Nabiki's assignment about assessing other people--she could only get better if she admitted what she needed to improve on. She could even grudgingly admit that Fusa's "don't hit anyone" mandate had forced her to be a bit more "Anything Goes" and less straight forward. But the whole food thing.... seriously.... What was the deal with that?

Nabiki smirked at Akane's obvious trepidation. Although the next little exercise she had in mind wasn't going to be all that bad, Nabiki did enjoy messing with Akane just for her own entertainment at times. "Why, we're just going to do a little 'training' is all..."

* * *

man.... this takes forever. ;_; In my head it's like "next they do this" but then you have to actually make a whole scene and stuff out of it. geeeeeeeze.... Anywho... message me if you want to continue this instead of waiting for me. :P Please review it if you liked it. Or read my other stuff. Again...sorry I'm so slow. :o( I hope you're ummm... enjoying it and stuff. I guess... it's really OCC and all. :o( Sorry. Well... I mean, I think they are fairly in character given the situation, but... then I guess I also read the manga a certain way and I'm not a huge fannon type so... uh... this is a terrible author's note I guess. Well.... how about... I hope you liked it regardless of the problems and stuff. And maybe one day I will write fast enough to think about getting a reader or something. And... yeah. Thanks for reading. And if you review...super thanks for positive reviewing. :o) But I guess if no one likes this then I will stop. :o( No one likes being flamed. Oh well. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for reading.


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